No one makes me want to throw a party like entertaining impresario Colin Cowie. Just had a chance to check out his new spring/summer home collection for HSN, launched last month. The party personality tops himself yet again with a coordinating line of lovely yet affordable items, from smart double-walled glassware (which keeps beverages at their ideal temperature longer) to coral-print china and pretty pillar candles in restful colors like azure and chocolate brown. The jet-setting Cowie took design inspiration from beach resorts across the globe; if you’re too overworked for your own seaside getaway, some chic new tableware might tide you over for a little while:

Floral-print pillar candles, which come in a trio:

Rattan serving dishes with porcelain inserts:

Chic double-walled glassware:

Coral print china:

Fern-colored flatware!

For more, check out his website. –Jen Renzi

Technorati Tags: Colin Cowie for HSN, outdoor entertaining staples, best summer tableware, colorful flatware, modern dishes

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Full disclosure: I am an unabashed Electrolux fan. The home-appliance giant invariably has one of the best-designed booths at KBIS (check our fabulous guest bloggers’ reports on the show) and consistently puts out sleek products that look sublimely chic while addressing our every culinary need. The company constantly cooks up brilliant, time-saving innovations like the new “Perfect Turkey” button on wall ovens—one push and voila: the most perfectly cooked, moistest-ever turkey.

While watching Top Chef last night, I caught the funny new ads featuring a radiantly whirling-dervish-like Kelly Ripa using her suite of Electrolux appliances to simultaneously throw a cocktail party for 100 of her closets friends, whip up customized meals for her kids, and, like, take over a small country. (Kidding on that last one.) Gotta hand it to the gal, she embodies the aspirational have-it-all woman who pulls off the impossible—juggling kids, career, and hot husband, all the while having amazing hair. Kinda love her. And totally jeal.

Turns out the featured products are from Electrolux’s latest launch—apparently the biggest in company’s history, and that’s saying a LOT since every year they roll out tons of splashy new things. The 50-plus goodies are designed for Ripa-esque modern multitaskers–i.e. all of us–with smart features like ball-bearing oven racks that slide out the touch of a finger, induction hybrid cooktops, and dishwashers engineered to maximize interior capacity.

Intrigued? You’re in luck: Electrolux is also teaming with Best Buy to host in-store events in 14 cities (see bottom) this weekend and next (April 19 and 26), dubbed “Lux Living.” Check out the products in action during cooking demonstrations while picking up tips on time saving, organizing, and entertaining.

And there’s a fun virtual component, too, with a conscientious spin: an online scavenger hunt–you have to track down her entire handbag collection!–for a chance to win a suite of appliances. Just registering will help support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund; Electrolux is also donating a portion of retail sales of select appliances to OCRF. Hot stuff.

Go here to get Kelly’s handbags. (Meanwhile, I too, keep my handbags in the fridge–although only because I have no closet space!)

Lux Living locations:
• New York City
• Los Angeles/ Orange County
• Chicago
• Philadelphia
• Dallas
• Washington DC
• Houston
• Atlanta
• Boston
• San Francisco/San Jose
• Phoenix
• Seattle/Tacoma
• Portland
• Minneapolis

–Jen Renzi

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While the design world does have its occasional celebrity moment–think Brad Pitt’s New Orleans project with Global Green, Venus Williams’s interiors firm, or basically anyone on the cover of the scarily trashy Architectural Digest–what I love most about working within this field is that the famous-people antics are minimal.

Thus I was shocked–shocked!–to read in the New York Post yesterday that none other than Britney Spears has embraced the industry in the hopes of career revival. In case you missed the big news, she’s supposedly in talks with some Danish celebrity broker (um, is there really such a thing?) to be the “face” of a Danish furnishings/accessories line.

Which leads to a few questions that the various tabloids and blogs have yet to address:

1) What the heck is the Scandinavian Style Mansion mentioned in all the gossip articles? A store? An event space? Some cultural nexus? Their website is, alas, enigmatic…just a link to an email address. (Although the home page is quite tastefully designed.) If you have any insights, please share!

2) Why was Britney paid squillions of dollars to throw her recent birthday party there, why was Sharon Stone hosting it, and will they pay me, too, to have MY birthday party there next week (I’m still looking for a venue)?

3) When did Britney start collecting Danish design??

Ah, celebrity culture. Something I know nothing about. But! I do know a smidge about Danish design. Herewith, a few great places to find it:

* Baxter & Liebchen in Brooklyn. This under-the-radar warehouse of vintage furnishings is one of my favotite shopping destinations of all time. Great affordable storage pieces and accessories mixed with some excellent finds of rare provenance. Plus, they have a searchable online inventory of pieces by Nanna Ditzel, Poul Henningsen, Arne Vodder, et al. Take a look.

* In addition to works by design icons Serio Rodrigues, Wendell Castle, and Jeff Zimmerman, the crew at R 20th Century Design is currently showing pieces by Danish master Poul Kjaerholm, including a pair of 1956 PK 22 lounge chairs and this rare PK 32/2 two-seater (below). At last December’s Art Basel Miami Beach, R also released four limited-edition Kjaerholm pieces, produced under the supervision of the designer’s family in Denmark (and highlighted at a stunning joint exhibition with Sean Kelly Gallery–pix at top.)

* Thomas Loof and Pernille Pedersen, my fabulously talented Danish photographer friends, who shoot architecture, portraiture, food, design, and much, much more. Check out this fabulous shot of Poul Kjaerholm’s house in Denmark!

Take that, Britney! –Jen Renzi

Technorati Tags: Celebrity design gossip, vintage Danish furniture, Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, Global Green New Orleans, V Starr Interiors, Thomas Loof photography, R 20th Century Gallery exhibitions, Poul Kjaerholm rereleases

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I just love a weird coincidence!

Earlier today, I was chatting with Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch of vanguard New York interiors firm Roman and Williams—not about the chic homes they’ve kitted out for bigwigs Gwyneth and Kate Hudson (the design duo is very discreet), but about redoing the iconic Royalton New York Hotel’s public areas. Among other topics, the designers dished on the challenges of reworking the windowless rear dining room, above, into a stunning eatery, now named Brasserie 44 (and run by John McDonald of Lever House and Lure Fish bar fame). “Because it’s kind of a cul-de-sac back there, we wanted to make it lighter than the surrounding spaces,” explains Robin. “It’s a beacon to lure you in from the lobby.” In addition to subtly evocative details like honeyed-teak millwork and wall dividers of intertwined rope, the space is enlivened by mesmerizing blown-glass fixtures emitting a moonlit, gaslight glow that’s flattering to both the space and its sexy patrons.

Fast forward a few hours: I’m checking out Brooklyn glass artist John Pomp’s website to see if he’s previewing new goodies yet. And what do I find? In addition to his architectonic vases (below) and clever accessories, I discovered that he is also the behind-the-scenes fabricator responsible for the Brasserie 44’s fabulous orbs!

Caught the glassblowing bug yourself? Drop by one sixty glass, his Williamsburg studio/shop, and take a class. I was bummed to see that I just missed the beer-mug-making workshop, but perhaps that was no coincidence–a sign from a higher power discouraging me from mixing drinking and design? Hmmm…. –Jen Renzi

Technorati Tags: Modern light fixtures, mood lighting, glassblowing classes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, celebrity design firms, Roman and Williams, Royalton New York Hotel, hottest hotel renovation, One Sixty Glass, John Pomp, Brasserie 44, John McDonald, Lever House, Lure Fish Bar, hot restaurants

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So last night I attended an intimate bash thrown by Creative Time, a nonprofit organization sponsoring provocative public artworks. The occasion? A screening of Shallow, a series of film shorts by none other than Malcolm McLaren: Sex Pistols impressario, countercultural force to be reckoned with, video artist, and (it must be said) über dandy. I won’t reveal the somewhat salacious content of the short pieces we screened, but suffice it to say that if you are a card-carrying member of the international jet set you must hightail it to Art Basel in June to see for yourself.

As if hobnobbing with the father of punk was not enticement enough, the chance for an inside peek into Creative Time trustee Peggy Jacobs’s amazing apartment was also a draw. It proved chockablock with great paintings and sculptures, a sweeping view of Central Park, and an eclectic assortment of modern and antique furnishings. I took away more than a few design lessons, including the importance of having a fabulously plush carpet if you are the kind of person who frequently hosts large film screenings in your home. If you could have seen the fifty rapt partygoers spilling off the sofas and onto Peggy’s floor to watch Malcom’s flicks, you would have giggled–but then noted how, afterwards, no one wanted to get up because the carpet was so soft and cossetting.

Whether you are a renowned art collector with a refined Fifth Avenue pad or a small-home-dwelling suburbanite with a Netflix addiction, I say: curl up on the floor with a bowl of popcorn and relax on a divine design by Edward Fields, upscale maker of artful carpets with a dash of punk glam. Turn up the volume with Terra (below), a just-rereleased pattern first designed in 1975–the year the Sex Pistols were founded. –Jen Renzi

Technorati Tags: Sex Pistols, punk, Malcolm McLaren, Edward Fields, Creative Time, Art Basel, Netflix, carpets

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